


Very Important Questions

by GretchenSinister



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-13
Updated: 2019-04-13
Packaged: 2020-01-12 22:36:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18456008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GretchenSinister/pseuds/GretchenSinister
Summary: Original Prompt: "In the books, the MiM has been by himself* seen Pitch killed his parents when he was a baby. He’s never had company, and while he can talk to people on Earth, and he has his moonbeams, the moonbeams are always leaving to protect the children of Earth, and it can be hard to have normal conversations with people by shining shadows on the floors.So, my prompt is this: During the movie, the MiM assumes that Jack is fine, because the MiM himself doesn’t understand the need for person-to-person interaction, having never actually had it, after the movie, Jack’s still upset at the MiM, and wants to talk to him, but there’s a culture clash, as the MiM just doesn’t get it. At first Jack is just pissed until he realizes that the MiM hasn’t had anyone since he was born, and isn’t being an asshole, he just literally doesn’t understand where Jack is coming from.Bonus: None of the Guardians knew about the MiM isolation...[cut for length]"I’m so ambivalent about the Man in the Moon, so I kept this fic short. Basically, Jack raises the question of whether the Man in the Moon is a person, and thinks like a person, and the Guardians say yes. Then they all have to start thinking about that.





	Very Important Questions

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr on 3/27/2015.

“Is the Man in the Moon like us?” Jack asked, one sleepy afternoon (well, they were all sleepy afternoons) on the beaches of Dreamland.  
  
“What do you mean, Jack?” Tooth asked after a thoughtful pause. It was a testament to the influence of Dreamland that the pause was there at all, and that neither North nor Bunny had interjected with an immediate answer.   
  
“I mean, is he like a person? Like, basically person-sized, with a personality? Or is he the whole moon somehow?”  
  
“He cannot be the whole moon,” North said. “Mortals have been to the moon. And Manny did not say a thing about that.  
  
"So he must be a person, then. Who does he talk to? If he doesn’t talk to us very much.” Jack dug his toes into the fine white sand that always seemed to appear under him in Dreamland, as if the place wanted to compensate for the lack of real snow by at least looking like it.  
  
“Maybe he just hasn’t mentioned anybody,” Bunny suggested. “It’s difficult having a conversation with shadow puppets, after all.”  
  
Sandy floated a question mark over to the rest of them.  
  
“Well, I’m asking because I know that when I leave Dreamland I’m probably going to still be hurt about how Manny left me alone for three hundred years,” Jack said.  
  
At the same time, North said, “You’re right Sandy, we should ask him.”  
  
Sandy nodded at them both, pleased by the efficiency of that one symbol. He stood up and opened a door on the beach that led to the North Pole.  
  
“Right now?” asked Jack. Sandy shrugged. Why not right now? They’d come back to Dreamland soon enough. And the Pole had the most direct means of communication.  
  
And so, despite a few more half-hearted protests, the Guardians were soon standing around the crystal that helped focus moonlight at the workshop.  
  
“So far so good,” said Bunny, “but don’t we still need Manny to initiate the conversation?”   
  
Jack frowned. “I’m sure he can listen to us. All we need to do now is ask something that will get his attention–okay, I admit I’ve never discovered what that is.”  
  
“Well, is not like we will run out of words.” North stepped forward toward the crystal so he could look up and see the moon at the same time. “Hey, Manny! What is going on? Why did you never say anything about mortals visiting?”  
  
Nothing happened.  
  
Sandy made a few symbols, and Bunny nodded. “Why is a kind of complicated thing to ask, yeah. So, Manny, did you even notice the mortals’ landing?”  
  
A check mark appeared in shadow.  
  
“Ha!” Bunny exclaimed. “You were right, little man. Manny, were you surprised they were there?”  
  
A shadow X this time.  
  
“See, Jack you just had to change up your questions, we’re going to get some answers now–”  
  
“Are you lonely?” Jack interrupted.  
  
The shadow X faded, but nothing replaced it.  
  
“Great, confirmed, he just doesn’t like me,” Jack said, but almost before he finished his sentence, a question mark appeared.  
  
“Do–do you even know what loneliness is?” Jack asked. The X slowly appeared.  
  
“Are you alone?” A check. “Do you want to not be?” An X, a question mark.  
  
“I don’t want to teach him to be lonely,” Jack said and folded his arms. “Not if he just doesn’t get it. Cause if he’s on the moon, how would it end?”  
  
“Yes, we will avoid doing that,” North said. “But for now, we need to–”  
  
“Manny, would you like to keep talking?” Tooth asked. A long pause, and then a small check.  
  
“We don’t have to make this complicated right away,” she said, settling down near the crystal. And soon enough, the others follow her.   
  
“So, did you have to hide from the mortals when they landed?” 


End file.
